Daymond John

Daymond John has more in common with colleague celebrity investors Barbara Corcoran and Kevin O’Leary than being on the ABC network’s hit show Shark Tank- he, too, has dyslexia.

Before he became the iconic entrepreneur he is today, Daymond John had to realize what his strengths were- as well as his weaknesses. He knew he excelled effortlessly in math and science in school, but couldn’t understand why his hours spent working on spelling never resulted in good English grades. When his language arts skills failed to improve, John’s parents took him to a professional who diagnosed him with a behavioral issue- a diagnosis John’s mother knew was wrong from working with John and seeing him excel in other subjects.

John then decided he would just play his strengths in high school, and enrolled in Bayside High School’s co-op program, which allowed him to switch between working full-time one week and going to school the next. This way he could gain experience in the business field and allow himself extra time between weeks of school to catch up on assignments. He knew he wouldn’t get where he wanted simply with a mixed report card, so he worked with the co-op program to highlight his strengths.

This route of tipping the scale to show off his strengths continued well into his business career until finally John put all the pieces of the puzzle together and learned that what the academic professional wrongly diagnosed as a behavioral issue was actually dyslexia. John hasn’t let the labeling of his disability affect his drive and determination to succeed though, and continues to play his strengths as an entrepreneur. He also went on to win the Ernst & Young’s New York Entrepreneur of the Year as well as Crain’s Business of New York Under Forty Award.